1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a control apparatus for a laundry washing and/or drying machine and, in particular, to a control apparatus which identifies the type of fabrics present in the drum of the machine for laundering or drying, and automatically selects the most suitable program cycle for the laundering or drying of the fabrics.
2. Description of Related Art
Known laundry washers are provided with an electromechanical or electronic program control unit, the latter type usually including a microprocessor, for controlling the execution of predetermined laundering cycles. Such known laundry washers are also typically provided with a number of pushbutton switches associated with various types of fabrics, i.e. wool, cotton, synthetics, etc., of the laundry to be laundered. Each of these switches is actuated in accordance with the type of fabrics be laundered, to thereby selecting in a per se known manner the most suitable program cycle for the laundering of specific fabrics.
In another type of known laundry washers, program control units of the general type described above are designed to optimize the execution of laundering cycles in accordance with predetermined parameters such as type and quantity of the fabrics to be laundered. These predetermined parameters are accessed by the program control unit upon actuation of associated selector pushbuttons, thereby obtaining satisfactory results of the laundry washing operation with the lowest possible consumption of water, detergents and electric energy. While machines of this construction function in a satisfactory and reliable manner, they still require a number of pushbuttons for selecting the type of fabrics to be laundered because they are incapable of automatically selecting and controlling the execution of optimized laundering cycles in accordance with the type of fabrics present in the drum of the machine.